


Sins of the Fathers

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, Conflict, Coulson talks to a door again, Dysfunctional Family, F/M, Flirting, Hydra (Marvel), Identity Issues, Implied Sexual Content, Kissing, Naked Cuddling, Rain, Skye's Superpowers, skoulsonfest2k15
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-14
Updated: 2014-12-30
Packaged: 2018-03-04 04:41:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2948204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skoulsonfest2k15 - Day 3: Family Issues.  Skye's father's disruptions in her life draw her and Coulson closer together and get Coulson to open up about his past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye learns Coulson has been holding out about her father.

"Your father. How was he?"

He's asking because they're in his office, and she hasn't spoken a word to him.  Just got back last night.

There's something about it sticking to her, he can feel it.  And it's not like she snuck off. He knew where she was going.  It's just...

"I think there's something wrong with him," she says quietly, her back to him, shoulders hunched over the laptop.

"What do you mean?" he asks, giving her his full attention.

"It was like someone turned the volume down.  Like, all the way down," she says back over her shoulder.

"Less volume...might be good?" he says, trying to sound encouraging.

Now she turns all the way around to give him a hard stare.

"He's unstable, and he doesn't have anyone," she replies, frowning.

"He is violent and he has spent the better part of his life fixated on you," Coulson answers back, folding his hands in front of him.

"Is that your not-so-subtle way of telling me to stop trying to see him?" she asks, standing up out of her chair and walking to his desk.

"I'd never do that," he says quietly, as his eyes follow hers.

"Sure you would," she replies, crossing her arms. "If you thought it might endanger the team."

He notices her eyes track him as he starts to fidget in his chair, he looks away from her hard gaze.  

Yes, if this were about the team.  

It's not.  It's about her.

"It's important to know where you came from," he says. "To have family."

"I wanted to know where I came from," she gestures. "Not the big side of crazy that came with it."

"It's not his fault, Skye," he says, suddenly meeting her gaze again.

"Whatever," she answers in frustration.  "You know he's crazy.  Why do you keep downplaying it?"

"It's not," he repeats, standing and sliding the file over on his desk in front of him toward her with his fingertips.

Her face falls as she picks it up and holds it out at him. "What is this?"

"It's a file," he says, watching her eyes get impatient. "On your father."

While she opens it and reads, he watches her, feeling that familiar hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach.  Maybe this will be the final straw.

"How long have you had this?" she asks, and shuts the file, putting it back on the desk.

She's still calm, but he knows the tone has a demand behind it.

"Awhile," he replies slowly. "But I only pieced it together after Raina led us to him."

"You've had this information the whole time, and you could've told me?"

" _Skye_ ," he starts, and then stops himself. "Yes."

"He worked for SHIELD, or someone within SHIELD, to develop an alternative to the Super Soldier Serum."

"And something went wrong," Coulson interrupted. "I'm guessing he wanted something that would give him insurance against Whitehall and HYDRA."

"How about you stop guessing and tell me what else you know about me?" she asked, agitated.

"That you haven't been the same since you came back from that temple," he said, standing and coming around his desk towards her.

"Of course not," she said, flinching away as his hand reached towards her.  "None of us have. We lost Trip."

"The Obelisk triggered a massive earthquake,” Coulson replies. “Imagine how much worse it could have been if he hadn't destroyed it?" 

"He shouldn't have been down there," she said, staring back at him. "And neither should've you."

He wants to pretend that doesn't hurt.  Right now she doesn't need anything else to feel guilty about.  She's blaming herself for Trip for some reason.

As she sees his expression, she starts to get emotional then spins around and begins walking to the door.

"I won't stop you from seeing your father," he says after her.  "But I want to know why."

It definitely sounds like a demand.

"Maybe you should check your files?" she says, turning back to him, her chin raised defiantly. "And get back to me?"

He sets his jaw, then takes a breath and walks back around behind his desk.

As he sits, his eyes flicker up to the door.  "This isn't..."

She's already gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye attempts to track down her father and loses him again. Coulson comes after her.

She drops the gun from her hands, hearing it clatter to the surface, but not hearing it at the same time.

It's just exhaustion at this point.

Their eyes meet. Even from a distance, she can tell by the line of his brow, the shape of his mouth, the relief that she would see in his eyes if they were closer.

It's pouring down terribly. Cats and dogs and monsters and aliens.

And it's a cold rain, too. The pacific northwest is no place to get wet near Wintertime.

He starts to walk towards her, ambling carefully along the flat car as the train they're on continues, unaware of what they just escaped.

Slipping his piece into his belt he gets out his satphone to give an order, probably to May, because he'd told her to stand down while they hopped the train as she chased after her father. He puts it away before he reaches her. 

She knew what would happen if they kept pushing her father. He'd told her, so she had to get him away from them, go after him herself.

Of course Coulson had followed.  _Of course_.

She didn't want him to have to be the one to pull the trigger, though. And he would have. She has no doubt.

But she doesn't want that on him. Because she knows his conscience, the way he would put that away somewhere and take it out later.

When he's changed like that, when he completely loses control, there's nothing left of the man that's her father.

So she fired the shots. They had an agreement now; that she should, if he were ever thinking of harming her when he was in that state.

Then Cal ran like a wounded beast, and left them to clean up the mess he'd made. To follow his trail of blood, if that's what they wanted.

They didn't want to.

There is Phil Coulson at her side, in his expensive suit, soaked right to the bone.

His hand stretches out to make its familiar, careful touch at her arm. She's had a lot of time to think about what that means in these last several weeks.

It always feels like an assurance. That he's here. Solid. No matter what's occurred.

She'd avoided touching him after San Juan, and the temple, what she'd learned about herself had scared her off of too much familiarity. The idea that letting her emotions slip could be utterly destructive. And the memory of Trip's face.

Even in that sadness, there was a mix of fear and excitement she had felt learning he'd followed her. Part of her wanted to even be a little angry at him being so reckless, like May was, at throwing away his own importance.

But she couldn't. Instead she'd wanted to get this under control first, to think it through.

Did he even understand it himself?

Now that she can see his eyes, and they're searching hers, she can see the question.

He swallows and then inadvertently drinks in some of the rain on his face, wipes the rest away with the back of his hand. He bends to pick up her weapon and tucks it away in his belt.

It _is_ cold. He needs to get out of this.

 _But first_.

She puts her arms around his neck, slowly this time. His hands drop to his sides, frozen against his body, and he looks like he is second and third guessing how or if he should react.

He must know this won't be like the last time they embraced.

Through the flutter of her wet eyelashes she looks at him before closing her eyes and pressing her mouth to his.

It's cold. But his mouth isn't.

His mouth has always made her curious, much like his eyes. The expressiveness of it, she's noted in detail. But she has always wondered if there is still more.

Warm breath against her lips, she realizes how much of her body is up against his, and starts to pull away, embarrassed, and face the consequences when his hand is at her waist, stopping her.

His fingers touch her cheekbone, then push the wet strands of hair away from her eyes, very gently. He is studying her, too. Maybe he's looking for something that wasn't there before?

Then, he kisses her back, cupping her face in his hand.

It's like drinking warmth. And kindness.

He's such a gentleman, she thinks she might melt.

"We should get out of the rain and out of these wet clothes," he says, after a moment.

Trying to find his footing again, he glances seriously over at the direction from which they came. "I've radioed in."

"You should," she answers, looking up into his eyes. "Get me out of these wet clothes, I mean."

He tries to hide a smile, but it's bit rakish. For Coulson, anyway.

It's something new.

"We'll talk about it," he answers, so responsible sounding. Back to being Director. They start walking across the flat car, heading towards the engine.

"Hell of a day," she says with a sigh, as he helps her along.

"You seem to be having a lot of those lately," he says. The rain has started to let up.

She looks up at the clouds. There's a bit of sun trying to come through.

"We should do something about that," he says, as they reach a boxcar.

"Like what?" she says sarcastically. "Lock me in Vault D?"

He winces a little as he regards her, turning the handle to open the door.

"I was thinking...dinner might be nice?" he offers, motioning her through ahead of him.

"Oh."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye and Coulson in the dark together.

"There's a file on my father too, you know."

They're alone in the darkness.  It feels warm, like a cocoon, or a nest.

Just them and their secrets.

He doesn't know why he's bringing this up right now, only that he suddenly feels like talking.

And her hand tracing the scar on his chest in the dark stirs his thoughts to run deeper, so he touches his hand lightly to hers. Taking it in his, he brings it to his lips, kissing her fingertips.

"Have you read it?" she asks, and he pauses the movement of his mouth.

"No," he says, a hesitant moment later.

She stirs next to him and he can tell she's propped herself up beside him.  Then her hand lands on his chest again as she leans her weight over and switches on the side lamp on the nightstand as they both wince against the intrusion.

When he gets his eyes open all the way, he sees her leaning over him, looking down at his face curiously, tracing the lines on the side of his mouth with her finger.

"Just seeing what I've gotten myself into," she smiles wiggling her eyebrows, when he gives her a bit of a doubtful look.

"My condolences," he replied.

"Coulson," she sighed, and leaned over and switched the light off again, settling back down next to him.

"I'm afraid to read it," he started, turning towards her and feeling less exposed now that it was dark again. "That it's worse than I remember."

Anyway, she's the one that's had the horrible week. Why is he dredging up his past like this?

He already knows the answer, though.  It was the thought of losing her.  Their fathers.  That she had hidden something from him.

It was so unlike her. Usually, he was the one hiding things.

A whole Black Box full of secrets.

"Only one way to find out," she said. "Or you can just keep guessing for the rest of your life."

"That _is_ how you like to do things, isn't it?" he grinned. "You would open Pandora's Box in five minutes, tops."

"Shut up!" she said, laughing and shoving at his shoulder.

"Watch it!" he said, shrugging away when he felt her teeth on his arm.  "No biting, unless, of course..."

"You're ridiculous," she said, swinging her leg over to sit atop him.

He leaned over and turned the lights on.

"Hey!"

"I'm just seeing what I've gotten myself into," he said, running his hands along her thighs, then underneath the t-shirt she was wearing.

"You don't ever talk about your dad," she said, putting her hands against his chest.

"I know," he said, sighing, his hands back at her hips.  "There's a reason for that."

"And if it _is_ worse," she said, drawing circles in the hair on his chest. "What then?"

She would know a little something about it being worse. He understands the curiosity.

"I don't want to be that guy anymore, Skye," he said. "I survived.  Then, I closed the door. The day I joined SHIELD."

 He can't look at her sad eyes right now, she might take him down. His hand flicks the lamp off again.

"You've chosen, everyday since, _not_ to be that guy," she said, turning the light back on.

" _It wasn't his fault_ ," he said, staring at her. "I don't ever want someone to say that about me." 

From the look on her face, he can tell where she's going with this, making the connections.  The last several months. The GH-325, the carving, the machine. Her father.  How close he's been to it all along.

Why he'd kept his distance from her.  Even though he could hardly bear it.

"You once told me I see things differently," she said, after thinking it over, and glances down at him. "Do you still believe that?"

The tone is slightly commanding.  He answers immediately.

"Yes."

She leaned down over him, her mouth above his.

" _Convince me_ ," she whispers.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye lets go. Coulson holds on.

"You're not responsible."

He's over there, on the other side.

A monster.

"They did something to him," she says, turning to him.  "They're manipulating him."

"I know," Coulson answered. "They're manipulating him, trying to get to you."

There's a sinkhole where none existed before.  It probably goes for a mile in either direction. At the bottom of it is the remains of a HYDRA facility.

"We didn't lose anyone, right?" she asks, wanting reassurance.

"No," he answers, with a small smile. "All clear."

She feels his hand on her arm and turns into him.

There's a scream of rage from the other side, and Skye's face twists.

"It's not him, Skye," he says. "That's not your father."

The power is still coursing through her hands, along with the impulse to use it.  Through the devices Fitz and Simmons have built fashioned to her wrists.  She leans into him and feels familiarity, the touch of his wool suit, the smell of his soap on his skin.

"I thought I could protect him from them."

Coulson looks across the way and sees movements back and forth, handlers trying to get a hold of Cal.  He's done letting this pull on his own past.   The way Cal hates him, like his own father did.

He did finally shut that door for good.  She helped him with that.

Skye turns and sees her father being beaten by the HYDRA operatives, like a wild animal.  The ground rumbles under them.

"God, Coulson...," she says, stumbling backwards, putting some distance between them.

"They won't kill him," he tells her. "They need him.  Which means, we can get him back.  Alive."

"And if they try to make others into him?"

"You've done everything you can.  We'll do more, when we have an opportunity," he promises.

He looks down at her, the way her eyes are now.  It crushes him.

"He went down this path before you ever knew him, Skye. But at least he had a chance to know you.  To see what you've become."

"I feel helpless," she says, staring back across the ravine.  She doesn't sound helpless, though.  "That's what they want, isn't it?"

"Yes," he says, admiring how she somehow pulls strength from moments like this.  He wishes her father could see her this way.

"Well, then," she says. "Let's find another base to demolish."

She turns away and they head back towards the team, the line of SUVs waiting in the distance.

HYDRA tried to break them.

They've only made them stronger.

 


End file.
